Program control means



May l, 1934.

C, A. RACKEY PROGRAM CONTROL MEANS Filed Nom. 2S, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l [HAN/VEZ f7 CHM/Nfl 2 KEN? INVENTOR- CHESTER A. RACKEY ATTORNEY- May 1, 1934- c/A. RACKEY 1,956,746

PROGRAM CONTROL MEANS Filed Nov. 28, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HAMM/U55 2' .5709/0 5 TUD/0 .5700/0 A C N INVENTOR- y CHESTER A. RACKEY BY m ORNEY- lPatented May '1, 1934 UNITED STATES 1,956,146 y PROGRAM CONTROL MEANS Chester A, Rackey, Long Island City, N. Y., assignor to-Radio Corporation o1' America, a corporation of Delaware Application November 2 2 Claims.

This invention relates to radio signalling and more in particular to signalling systems for broadcasting programs by the means of radio waves.

In general, broadcasting systems in use at the present timecomprise a transmitter or a plurality of spaced related transmitters and a studio or program source or a plurality of studios and/or program sources related to each other and to the transmitter or transmitters by means-of channels or groups of channels. By the term channel in this specification applicant means a medium over which signals and, in particular, broadcast program signals may be transmitted from one point to another. The studios may in turn be connected with sources of programs, as, for example, halls, theatres, churches, etc.

It is obvious that a system as described above 'of necessity must include an elaborate network of interconnecting channels, etc. In operation, the selecting and interconnecting of the channels between the studios and the transmitters or the program sources and the studios, and any utilization point, must follow a predetermined planned se quence throughout the broadcasting hours, otherwise the entire program arrangement would be confused and thewrong programs would be connected to certain' channels. There could be no assurance that the right program would go out on the right channel at the appropriate time. In order' to insure that the proper channels are connected betweenthe desired studios or program sources and the proper utilization point, a centralized supervisory system, under the control of one person, is necessary, otherwise there would .be much confusion and delay and no assurance that the right source would be connected withvthe right studio at theright time and disconnected therefrom when a dierent program is to be transmitted, nor assurance that the right studio would be connected over the proper channels to the desired broadcasting station or chain of stations at the proper time.

Heretofore this centralized supervisory system involved the use of an elaborate keying system arranged to present the program on the proper channels. For example, assume that the broadcasting system comprised an installation in which channels for transmission are to be available 50 in 20 studios to transmit signals to said studios from program sources or from said studios to utilization point. In order to operate or control from a single point the 20 studios, each of which includes the 20 transmission channels, it would be necessary to have a board containing-100 setup keys. 'I'hat is, it would be necessary to have a key for each channel in each studio. Such a key-board would be a cumbersome piece of equipment and the operation of the same would be difilcult inasmuch as a great number of keys would s, 1932, serial No. s442112 have to be located very closely together and it would be confusing to choose the desired key or keys out of a bank of 400 keys.

The object of the present invention is to provide a master control or supervisory system by means of which the cutting in of the desired channels from the program sources to the studio and/0r from the studios to the utilization point may be actuated in a more.l effective and eiiicient manner than heretofore.

Another object of this present invention is to provide a control system or supervisory system in Vwhich the number of keys heretofore necessary to control a plurality of studios, each having available a plurality, of channels, is greatly reduced. A

Briefly and broadly, the 'objects of this invention, as described in the preceding paragraphs, are obtained by the use of a relay system in which a'plurality of relays perform the necessary keying operation and in which the relays are controlled or actuated by the supervisor by means of a small number of actuating keys.

In operating'the present system to connect a predetermined channel running to or from a studio it is only necessary to close two keys. In this system, using, for example, 20 studios each having available 20 channels, any channel of any studio may be put into operation by the use of 4G keys in a system arranged in accordance with the present invention. In systems used hereto- `fore the same supervision of the studios and channels required the use of 400 keys to control the 400 circuits.

'I'he important factors of the invention have been pointed out with particularity in the claims appended hereto. The nature of the supervisory system and the operation thereof will be understood from the'following detailed description, and therefrom when read in connection with the attached drawings, throughout which like reference characters indicate like parts, and in which:

Figure 1 shows the circuit arrangement of the supervisory system;

Figure 2 shows the supervisory system applied to a plurality of studios, each having a plurality of outgoing channels which may be connected with any utilization point; while,

Figure 3 shows the supervisory system connected with a plurality of studios, each of which is in turn connected with a plurality of transmitting stations.

Referring to the drawings, and in particular to Figure 1 thereof, which illustrates the circuits diagrammatically, the group of 16 relays and associated switching keys, including studio keys and channel keys, in the lower half of the drawings comprises the master channel set-up system, The group of 16 relays in the upper half of the drawings, which are associated with the studios,

y shown as marked squares, are the channel relay' group which is controlled by the first mentioned group of relays and switching keys. Under the control of these relays any one of the studios may be connected with any one of the outgoing channels.

The number of studios may be increased as desired. The number of outgoing channels may be increased according to the increase in number of studios. In practice any one of studios may be connected with any one of 20 channels by the use of 40 keys. The relays may be located at any convenient point. The relays may be located on a board in the control room.

Operation required to set up any channel relay bymeans of the master channel selector system follows: assuming studio Bs program to be routed to outgoing channel 3, studio key B is pressed. This puts battery 8 in circuit with all of the relay windings in studio/Begroup and the energized windings close all relay contacts in the studio B group and thereby connect the relay keys.

contacts with circuits leading to the channel Now, if channel key 3 is pressed, current from the battery l0 will iiow along the circuit through contacts 7 of channel key 3, line 12 to the winding of channel relay 3 clostng the contacts of said relay and connecting studio Bs program bus to outgoing channel 3 by way of line 14.

The energized circuit, the operation of which has beenrdescribed above, is shown in heavy lines on the drawings.

Studio B may, if desired, be connected with outgoing channel 3 only, as shown, in heavy lines or, if desired, may be connected to one or all of the outgoingchannels simultaneously. Suppose it is desired to connect studio B to channels 1 and X in addition to channel 3. This may be' accomplished now by merely closing channel keys 1 and X. All of the contacts associated with the studio B group are already closed, as indicated above. When channel key l is closed battery 10 is connected in series with the winding l5 in channel relay 1 of the relay group associated with studio B, by way of contacts 16 and line 17. Energized winding 15 closes contact 19, and the circuit between studio B and outgoing channel 1 is also completed. In a similar manner studio B may be connected to outgoing channel X. This operation is desirable where a program is to be sent out over several transmitters of a chain broadcast system at the same time.

Any or" the other studios A, C or X may be con# nected with any of the free channels while studio B is connected, as above. Of course, opening all or the keys permits any new hook-up that may be desired.

From the oregoinCr it is obvious that in operation any channel in any studio may be connected with a channel in any other studio by the mere operation or closing o two keys by the supervisor.

through channels Ni, N2, N3 Nn to studio N. The studio may in turn be connected with outgoing channels l, 2, 3 N which may lead to a transmitting station T, as indicated, or to any other utilization point.

Figure 3 shows a further application of the control system of Figure 1. In this arrangement the control system is shown as connecting a plurality of studios through a plurality of channels to several transmitting stations T, as above.

The invention is not to be limited to the particular systems shown since it will be understood that the studios A, B, and C of Figure 3 may be sources of programs or transmitters. In the latter case the transmitters might be either studios or sources of programs without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention and the operation thereof, what I claim is:

1. A system for eiecting from a control point the continuity of one or more of a"plurality of signal-carrying lines through one or more of a like number of outgoing channels, comprising, a plurality of pairs of contacts for each line, there being' a pair of contacts for each outgoing channel, one contact of each pair being connected to its line, the other contactof each pair being connected to one of said channels, said contacts being normally open, a relay including a winding and an armature associated with each pair of said contacts to close the same when the relay winding is energized, circuits connecting each of said relay windings to a source of potential, each of said circuits including normally open contacts, groups of said circuits including a portion in common, there being a normally open key in each of said common portions, a relay including a winding and an armature cooperating with each of said circuit contacts to close the same when the winding is energized, and circuits including common portions in each of which a normally open key is includedfor connecting groups of said last named relay windings with a source of potential.

2. A plurality of alternating current sources, a plurality of outgoing channels, circuits connecting each of said sources to each of said channels, each of said circuits including normally open contacts, and means for closing one or more of said contacts to connect one or more of said sources to one or more of said outgoing channels comprising, a relay associated with each of said open contacts, a control station, a relay at said control station corresponding to each of said rst named relays, a circuit connecting each of said rst named relays associated with said open contacts to a common source of potential at said control station, each of said circuits including normally open contacts and a key at said control station, said last named normally open contacts being adjacent the said relays at said control station to be operated by said relays, and circuits for energizing one or more of said relays at said control staton to close one or more of said contacts at said control station and energize one or more of said relays associated with the contacts between said circuits connected with said sources and said outgoing channels to connect one or more of said sources to one or more of said channels.

CHESTER A. RACKEY. 

